More than 50% of PM jobs now assign homework.

In the current market, the companies most likely to hire are the ones who are most likely to hand out homework: growth stage, intense companies.

Use this 10-step strategy to rock your homework assignments: Step 1 - Do One At a Time

You should try to focus your evenings & weekends on your homework assignment in the time allotted.

Else, you won't be able to differentiate from the pack.

So you should only say yes to homework for roles you really care about, vs any random role.

I had to interview 10 year SWE and 8 year PM Mario Di Nucci on this hot take. Here's what I learned.

There are 3 primary reasons why PMs in general are on the frontline for layoffs, alongside QA and recruiting:

1. Product is typically too layered
2. It’s challenging to quantify PM’s work
3. Most PMs are middlemen

So my question was: are there any solutions?

Here's what Mario answered: For 1 & 3 there are solutions, but they are still rare. The reasons are: For 1 - being too layered - it can be overcome:

↳ Team just have to stay disciplined with ratios.
↳ Generally, a better PM:Eng ratio is something lean like 1:10.
↳ And in terms of layering, having a product leader for every 5 or so PMs makes sense.

"Trust is the key, so you cannot control what cannot be controlled. With proper OKRs system in place, you can synch teams across the company and making sure they are all performing (or maybe not) toward the same goals."